Custom patient engagement solutions to automate patient-centric care in USA

Patient engagement can broadly be defined as enabling patients to manage their healthcare better. It boosts the rapport and two-way communication between patients and their doctors to help patients understand their conditions better and be more involved in their care. Patient engagement has been proven to improve the clinical outcomes for people and educate them on living healthy lives and managing their diseases better. It has been particularly effective for people suffering from chronic conditions.   

There are many ways to boost patient engagement or take the first steps to start it at practices, clinics, and hospitals –     

• Simplify medical jargon : This is one of the most important steps toward effective patient engagement. Explain to patients what is happening in their bodies in the simplest possible language and elaborate on how the treatment will work. Explain their test results and scans to them and elaborate on how they could’ve contracted the disease.    

• Educational Material: Share some resources with patients that explain their conditions and advise them on prevention and treatments. Enable easy access to this material and clarify patients’ doubts.    

• Communication: Applications that foster doctor-patient communication outside consultations and clinical visits improve patient engagement. Such applications include features for instant messaging, chatbots, video calls, and so on.    

• Shared Decision Making: Patients undergoing major procedures or extensive treatments often need medical advice to make the decision. Providers must engage with patients meaningfully to educate them about their condition and empower them to make decisions. This would involve a detailed explanation of the treatment or procedure, followed by its impact and relevance with the disease and side effects.     

• Aftercare Advice: Aftercare is an important but often overlooked aspect of medical care. After a major medical procedure or treatment, a poor lifestyle often leads to health complications or even re-admissions. So, physicians must continue to advise patients after treatments on healthy lifestyles, medications, diets, etc.     

These are some ways of having effective patient engagement, although the exact way would differ based on the patients and diseases.  

The patient engagement framework is a model for providers and healthcare organizations to formulate strategies for patient engagement. Its phases are –   

1. Inform Me – This is a rudimentary stage of patient engagement. Providers provide access to engagement tools and forms to patients as a first step.  
2. Engage Me – This is the phase in which patients access their electronic health records and handle administrative activities online rather than at clinics.  
3. Empower Me – Patients use messaging applications to communicate with their providers. They may inquire about diets, lifestyle, medications, dosage, etc. This makes them better aware of all the “Dos” and “Don’t.”  
4. Partner With Me – Patients use digital tools to collect data on their medications, symptoms, dosages, and so on and share this with providers.    
5. Support My e-Community – This is the last phase in which providers use several electronic instruments and digital platforms to manage patient care.  

Patient engagement improves the patients’ awareness of their medical conditions and diseases. This awareness empowers them to decide what treatments or procedures can be best for them and the subsequent impact. As a result, they can participate more in their care journey and better understand their disease.   

This will go a long way in enabling them to live healthier lives and take adequate precautions to manage their care. Good patient engagement has been known to improve patient’s clinical outcomes, especially those suffering from chronic conditions.  

There are many benefits of patient engagement –   

• Improved patient experience  
• Improved clinical outcomes  
• Lower cost of care  
• Improved long-term health  
• Reduced appointment misses  
• Higher patient involvement in care  

Strategies For Patient Engagement –   

• Promote patient engagement as an organizational policy  
• Formulate a roadmap for patient engagement, along with processes and protocols  
• Encourage patients to participate more in their care  
• Adopt software solutions for engagement   
• Train staff and providers for it  

There are a wide array of software tools to boost patient engagement –   

• Patient portals : Patients can use these portals to have easy and secure access to their health records from anywhere over the internet     

• Appointment Reminders: This tool sends patients automated alerts or notifications about upcoming medical appointments.    

• Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) : allows clinicians to monitor and track patients’ health vitals outside clinical settings. RPM uses many gadgets and devices to collect patients’ medical data in real-time and share it with physicians. These devices include glucose meters, heart rate monitors, blood pressure cuffs, activity trackers, and oximeters.   

• Virtual Consultation: These software applications allow patients to have a virtual consultation with their doctors for better rapport.    

• Online Appointment Scheduling: Applications for booking appointments online allow people to schedule consultations with a few clicks and reschedule them without hassle.    

• Medication Reminders: As the name indicates, these applications remind people when it’s time to take their meds through smartphone alerts or notifications.  

There are many ways to get patients more involved in their care. Some of them include the following 

Identify and Categorize Patients   

It is important to know which patients are suffering from the what condition and group them accordingly for better administration. Each person in a group would have similar symptoms and problems, making it easy for group-wise engagement.  

Educate  

Educate these groups about their disease, causes, and symptoms to spread awareness. Inform them about how they might have contracted it and the best mode of treatment.  

Shared Decision Making   

Involve patients in the decisions taken regarding their treatments. By educating them about their condition and the treatments, providers empower patients to make decisions regarding the course of care. This encourages them to take their care more seriously.  

Help Overcome Barriers to Care  

There are many barriers to care, such as a lack of access, basic education, high cost, or basic awareness of diseases. It is up to healthcare providers, administrators, and policymakers to reduce these barriers that prevent people from seeking the care they need.  

A patient portal software is an online platform that provides patients with secure, anytime access to their medical records. Patients can use their private login credentials to view their health information like recent doctor consultations, medications, test results, allergies, immunizations, and so on.  

Patient engagement is a concept in medical care in which patients are educated enough to manage their care better. It involves making people aware of their conditions and empowering them with the necessary knowledge to manage their recovery better with the help of treatments. Additionally, patient engagement also seeks to teach positive behavior in patients by promoting healthy eating, abstaining from smoking, drinking, and controlled substances, coupled with regular exercise.  

Dedicated software technology has enabled providers to boost the effectiveness of patient engagement in multiple ways. Let’s have a look at some of them –   

Doctor-Patient Communication   

Technology has bolstered communication between providers and patients. Applications for engagement enable people to message their doctors, have video calls, access educational materials, and even receive timely reminders for medications and appointments.  

Personalized Engagement  

Software for patient engagement enables users to have their doctor-patient exchange customized to their needs. This would include educational materials, advice on good habits, preventive measures, and physician counseling.  

Analytics  

Analytics within patient engagement platforms can process large amounts of patient data and generate actionable insights. These insights will help providers help patients better.